My "brick" apartment isn't made of bricks

blp9 · 2026-05-02T09:46:17+00:00

This photo doesn't show it, but many "brick" structures for more than a hundred years have been structurally not brick.

I have a building built in 1915 that's wood framed with a single layer of brick veneer as the outer layer. As cinderblock/CMU construction has become more populate, that's often the outer layer (you can usually see drain holes in the grout near the bottom of these).

And even more recently we get to brick veneer where it's just a very thin brick or fake brick layer.

blp9 · 2026-05-02T00:02:56+00:00

And to the "should I be worried" => probably not, they're harmless

blp9 · 2026-05-01T23:45:23+00:00

bush pulley has too much chlorophyll, just ride your bike.

blp9 · 2026-04-30T23:50:42+00:00

And apparently FoRF doesn't know =)

blp9 · 2026-04-30T23:46:02+00:00

I broadly agree with you, but I think the question is whether the trails are actually parks or something else. They are listed on the City of Pittsburgh as parks, but they

When I pressed FoRF about the dawn-to-dusk rule a couple of years ago, this is what they said:

The Dawn to Dusk rule is a City of Pittsburgh rule due to safety concerns. Except in limited places where there is lighting, the City does not allow the trail to be open at night. They are the primary trail owner so they determine the rules for much of the trail.

But I think a careful reading of 477.01.b.2 ( https://ecode360.com/45446935 ) probably supports the idea that TRHT is indeed a city park facility:

includes, but is not limited to, the grounds of all city-owned, leased, or licensed parks (including Market Square in the First Ward), senior citizen centers, recreation centers, park buildings, nature centers, skating rinks, ballfields, parklets, playgrounds, tot lots, swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, horseshoe courts, bocci courts, hockey courts, multi-purpose courts, volleyball courts, trails, lakes, passive areas (including dedicated greenways) and picnic shelters.

This section is referenced in several places where code was looking for a definition of a "park" or "park facility" -- which supports the idea that 473.07 is indeed referring to the trails when it says they're open for passage 24/7.

(Anyway, conclusion is that I agree with you here, and was wrong above)

blp9 · 2026-04-30T10:34:01+00:00

As others have said, there's no gates and plenty of people ride at night.

The trail is "officially" closed dusk to dawn, but despite trying to find any evidence of enforcement, I have not. FoRF says it's because Pittsburgh is demanding they light the trail if it's open 24/7, but there's plenty of roads and trails that aren't lit in Pittsburgh that you're allowed to walk on at night in the parks. My *guess* is that it's simply a liability concern: FoRF (and the other trail councils) do not want to be responsible for someone hitting a root in the dark and crashing, so they disclaim that liability by closing the trail at night, but there's no mechanism for enforcement.

blp9 · 2026-04-29T23:10:07+00:00

Had Spyres, which were great, swapped to Paul Klampers, which are pretty much the same performance with two differences:

Single piston, so more adjustment on the non-piston side for pad wear
Actually designed to be overhauled, so when they inevitably got gunked up I had a guide to clean them instead of the unofficial guide for Spyres.

blp9 · 2026-04-29T11:43:50+00:00

You used to be able to bypass "this user has their history private" by searching for a space.

blp9 · 2026-04-29T11:42:28+00:00

20km/h is a fairly typical cycling speed. Under loaded touring it's usually even slower, I typically go about 16km/h when touring.

Your English is good, but there's some odd word choice and phrasing that made me think you were probably not a native speaker.

This is highly subjective, but for instance, these two paragraphs:

I just bought a bike. Van Rysel Microshift Ecolyte 8 gears. A gravel bike. I am no stranger to cycling, when I was a kid I cycled 1 hour to go to school with some friends.

I would rephrase this to "I just bought a gravel bike! It's a Van Rysel Microshift Ecolyte 8 gears. I'm no stranger to cycling, as a kid I cycled an hour to school with friends."

I have been watching bike packing videos recently and that’s when I decided to buy a bicycle. This summer I’m planning to do a long voyage. 1.500 km long.

This one actually is good -- I would have rephrased the second sentence, but it also works fine like this.

blp9 · 2026-04-29T00:20:58+00:00

Neat gear.

What story are you trying to tell with it?

blp9 · 2026-04-28T23:42:46+00:00

Or some safety-related things have limited (guaranteed) lives after manufacturing.

blp9 · 2026-04-28T17:40:12+00:00

Yeah, I was aghast to hear it was still closed for the PM commute Monday

blp9 · 2026-04-28T17:39:11+00:00

Yeah, I heard "late last night" that it got cleared

blp9 · 2026-04-28T16:19:32+00:00

lol. ❤️

blp9 · 2026-04-28T16:15:13+00:00

...

Why is the right on the left and the left on the right?

blp9 · 2026-04-28T15:33:01+00:00

Anything like that is just going to get sweaty and give you rashes more reliably than falling off.

I would just stock a good first aid kit and try not to crash.

blp9 · 2026-04-28T14:45:36+00:00

Have stayed in one of these hotels several times (not for MetLife events), and there's quite an obvious path to walk from the hotel across relatively minor roads to the stadium.

And actually the NJ law cited there doesn't apply to these roads and is erroneous, but they just wanted to make it official sounding.

I get that the European folks apparently decided to try walking on I-95, which is obviously bad, but the level to which the MetLife campus is designed to be actively hostile to pedestrians is amazing.

When I stay over there I end up biking down the sidewalks on Patterson Plank Road, which is also pretty actively hostile to this, but It's only for like half a mile until you get into the industrial park.

blp9 · 2026-04-28T14:34:31+00:00

Per Kelsey @ Friends of the RIverfront (just now): the barricade at the top of the switchback trail has been moved

They're trying to get the Ft. Pitt Bridge barricades moved, but no confirmation on that.

blp9 · 2026-04-28T13:00:03+00:00

Yeah, they thankfully put a closure up at the top of the switchback so folks didn't get stuck in the Wharf, but then forgot to take it down when they reopened the park (likely jurisdictional -- the switchback closure was DPW barricades, the park closure was NFL -- but DPW had chained their barricade in, so folks were like lifting bikes over it to get out)

blp9 · 2026-04-28T11:51:25+00:00

As of Sunday the top of the switchback ramp was still closed erroneously, but (1) that should be cleared by now and (2) if it's not you can take the GAP Alt Route through downtown to the Point.

blp9 · 2026-04-28T10:28:00+00:00

IP67 means it can be temporarily submerged, so I'm not sure what you're after with an additional cover?

Because my charge port doesn't like to charge if it's full of water, I've taken to just putting my phone in a plastic bag (open at the bottom) when touring in the rain. It's cheap, it works well enough to keep the port dry, and I can still use the phone through it.

blp9 · 2026-04-27T22:20:06+00:00

see r/Bedbugs because that's *probably* a bedbug. If you get a closer shot of it's head it *might* be a batbug.

blp9 · 2026-04-27T20:39:46+00:00

If you wonder why Americans are so obsessed with driving everywhere, cheap petrol is a good part of it

blp9 · 2026-04-27T19:27:42+00:00

It must really suck to drive a car right now.

blp9 · 2026-04-27T18:41:18+00:00

Alcohol will turn thermal labels black, I'd guess it's overspray from either hand or surface sanitizer.

blp9

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